Endless Fakes
by diraptor
Summary: Emiya Shirou had always been a faker. One who endlessly chased his ideals. Even stranded in another world, these facts won't change. However, he might just find that being a hero isn't just about shouldering everything on his own. And there is such a thing as faking a fake.
1. Chapter 1

_Endless._

_That was a concept Emiya Shirou was very familiar with. His pursuit of his ideals, the people that needed his help, the swords that he wielded._

_Inexhaustible._

_Unending._

_Unlimited._

_In the end, perhaps the only thing that allowed him to bear this weight on his shoulders was his inability to acknowledge it. To him an ideal's impossibility did not make it any less worthy of pursuit, what was right was not necessarily correct._

_And so, he chased his dream endlessly._

* * *

In hindsight I should have expected it.

I'd been hunting Dead Apostles for years. So much so that perhaps I'd grown too accustomed to whatever hell hole that they would inevitably throw me into. Murphy's law had always applied double to me given my infamous luck rating.

It was almost inevitable that hunting a Dead Apostle magus researching dimensional travel would end up having me thrown into another dimension.

I had already done all the checks, the job was basically over. That was until the contraption behind me somehow activated and the mystery contained within malfunctioned for no apparent reason and sucked me in.

* * *

The first thing I noticed was green.

The landscape around me was lush in vegetation. From the light that penetrated through the admittedly thin canopy I could see somewhat tall grass and a few shrubs here and there, the air was cold and dry, and if I had any doubt that this was another dimension, the shattered moon in the sky had certainly squashed them.

Something's not right.

I glanced down at my hands, only to find that my tanned skin was gone. I traced a mirror, noticing a notable lack of resistance from Gaia, and found my teenage face staring back at me. My hair was back to a familiar auburn red and my eyes a golden-brown. Thankfully I hadn't lost too much of my height, that would have taken a while to get used to. I felt a bit of nostalgia washed over me as I recalled the light-hearted school days after the Grail War. I wondered how Issei and Sakura were doing, I'd lost contact with them a while back. My thoughts ground to a halt when my heightened senses picked up something.

There was movement.  
I wouldn't say I knew the ins and outs of trekking through a jungle, but I'd done so enough times that I wouldn't miss the signs of something approaching, even if I couldn't directly see it.

A strange, werewolf-like creature revealed itself. Its skin was pitch black and strange bony spikes lined its body vaguely resembling protrusions of a skeleton. Its head was a canine skull with blood red eyes.

A lunge. I reflexively traced Kanshou and Bakuya. Ducking under its body, I crossed my blades and tried to land a cut from below while preparing myself to roll out of the way should the creature have other methods of attacks that I was not yet aware of. To my astonishment, my blades cut through its skin like butter and my attempt at dealing a cutting wound had completely bisected the creature.

"Huh." I was aware the married blades had anti-monster properties, but I was expecting something more out of the chimeric creature. I'd made a habit of overestimating my opponents lest I pay dearly for doing the opposite, so I had assumed it to be at least a lower Phantasmal Beast. Was that really all?

I bit back a curse as more red eyes stared at me from the shadows. That wasn't supposed to be a challenge, dammit!

* * *

"Hmm?"  
From atop Beacon tower, the headmaster looked upon the outskirts of Vale with some amount of intrigue. Something was drawing the Grimm in.

Taking another sip of his coffee, his mind ran through a few possibilities. It was quite a long list.

A flash of light later, that list had narrowed down considerably and his eyes narrowed.

The old soul turned around, briskly walked out of his office and towards the Bullhead docks, grabbing his cane along the way in a swift movement that spoke of an uncanny amount of practice and familiarity.

He had no time to waste, there was no mistaking it. That light was the telltale signature of something normally thought impossible.

Magic.

* * *

I was getting tired of this.  
The creatures were not exactly powerful, nor difficult to kill, the problem was their numbers. I'd reached the forest's edge with some difficulty and I could see the borders of a settlement.

There were likely people in this world. I couldn't, in good conscience, lead an entire monster horde to them. If they were hiding from these creatures then I'd be doing them a favor thinning out their numbers. If they had a way to fight back, then perhaps they'd notice a disturbance and investigate, I could make contact then.

In any case, the clear course of action for me was to stand my ground for as long as possible. I quickly dodged a swipe from a bear-like creature, it's a good thing they were quite mindless and sloppy. The strike exposed its head which I quickly lopped off.

A copy of Hrunting was zipping across the battlefield at dizzying speeds, puncturing straight through one creature after another, leaving behind only their disintegrating remains.

I kicked off the ground and cut off the stinger of a scorpion the size of a truck before kicking the free appendage, pointy-end first, towards a giant raven that was swooping down to attack me. The bird shrieked and I had to backflip by once again kicking off the scorpion's plated tail to narrowly avoid its sharp feathers.

The moment I landed I was made very aware of the car-sized snake head hissing at me while bearing its fangs. Hrunting went straight through the bird and towards the giant snake. The nimble creature dodged to the side, maneuvering its enormous body in an impossibly agile way to curve around the flying sword and swung its jaws at me. It certainly didn't expect Hrunting to reverse its direction in mid-air and pinned its snout to the ground. I threw Kanshou and Bakuya at two nearby creatures, easily decapitating them, while I traced Caliburn and plunged its blade as much as my strength allowed into the snake. A shockwave seemed to reverberate throughout its entire length as golden light shimmered from beneath its scales, and then the thrashing stopped. Wasting no time, I dismissed Caliburn and caught Kanshou and Bakuya in their return arc. Jumping off the disappearing snake I crossed my swords to block a black spinning blur, sending me skidding back while my reinforced legs dug into the ground to dissipate the kinetic energy. The ball unfurled, having lost its momentum, and impossibly it was a boar with huge tusks. It roared at me, showing off rows of sharp teeth.  
It was then that I heard the familiar sound of propellers, signaling an approaching aircraft.

* * *

Ozpin had considered that perhaps the Summer or Winter maiden had finally been discovered. The Fall maiden was under his protection and Qrow was following a lead on the Spring maiden, and that lead certainly wasn't anywhere near Vale, so he had ruled those out. He had not expected the source of the magic to be a young boy.

The immortal soul considered himself a very good judge of character. It was almost inevitable, having lived for so long, he had seen the best and worst of humanity. Yet, at that moment, what was in front of him could only be called an anomaly.

The way the boy moved across the battlefield spoke of an uncanny ease that could have only been obtained through years of experience. More years than the boy's apparent age even. His awareness was rife, and he had the reflexes to match. This allowed him to control the flow of the fight and simultaneously taking out multiple targets, leading his next victims into his following moves. Then there were the swords.

He had never seen a weapon capable of flying almost with a mind of its own and systematically slaughtering one Grimm after another in such a swift and precise manner, there was also something quite unsettling about the red sheen that covered the weapon as it moved, pulsing as if thirsting for blood. The pair of beautiful short blades that the boy wielded, vaguely resembling some Mistralian designs, danced in his hands. The boy was fast, yet there were barely any wasted movements in his maneuvers and acrobatics. Ozpin could see that every attack would have created further opportunities for follow up had they not already been immediately fatal. There was a dead King Taijitu behind the boy, and the golden light coming off it screamed Magic to his senses.

* * *

I spared a glance at the strange aircraft, its front cabin was large and aerodynamic with a thin tail resembling a helicopter. There were huge engine pods facing downwards, mounted on fixed wings. The mechanisms of generating propulsion and lift were lost to me. Then again, I wasn't an engineer. I could only fix simple machinery thanks to Structural Analysis.

Hovering easily 10 meters from the ground, the door then smoothly slid to one side. I raised an eyebrow as a middle-aged man with disheveled gray hair jumped from that considerable distance and landed without trouble, clearly the cane he carried wasn't to steady himself. As if to mock me for even thinking that, the cane moved in a blur, decimating any creature that came within its range while the man calmly walked towards me without even a hint of effort.

As it was, I couldn't keep fighting these things forever. I needed information, not only to resolve the current situation but to survive at least until I could return home. I could sense a magical signature from him, though it wasn't much, it still meant he had me at a disadvantage. I did not know his capabilities, nor intentions, he doesn't seem to be the one controlling the beasts but that could be just an act. I was somewhat relieved, however, as I wouldn't need to hide the fact that magecraft was used to a fellow magus.

"I'd imagine this wasn't what you had in mind for a midnight stroll?" The man asked, a ghost of a smile on his face while he absentmindedly decimated another wolf creature that got too close with a casual swing of the cane. English, I can work with that.

He was good, that much I gathered from analyzing the history behind the cane. It was an ancient artifact and had been passed through many hands. Strangely, all of its users seemed to have utilized the same style.

Hrunting crashed into the boar while the creature tried to use its sturdy bone plated skull to block the attack. It didn't work, there was a brief shower of black gore before it too vanished into thin air.

"I'm a bit lost on why they keep coming for me at the moment." I replied evenly with a shrug.

"The Creatures of Grimm seek out negative emotions. If it's not you then perhaps the bloodlust coming off of your weapon there?"

Oh.

That was certainly unexpected. I quickly dismissed Hrunting and the man's eyes widened for but a moment when he saw my sword disappeared.

"Well now, I'm sure you've had enough exercise for the day? How about we move our conversation to somewhere more suitable?" he pointed at the aircraft which had managed hover much closer to the ground at our location with the creature's numbers thinned out by our combined efforts.

Alright then, let's see what I got myself into.

* * *

What kind of engineer designed this place?  
The towers' height were completely impractical, and they were built to stand on their own while there was a perfectly sturdy mountain range behind them which could have been used as support? Granted the position was still very defensible, but those impossibly tall structures must've been barely supporting their own weight. If any of these towers were to collapse, from this high up, the resulting landslide would be a disaster for the city below, to say nothing of the damage caused by the sheer size of the tower.

I sighed. After a short flight past what appeared to be a modern city, we arrived at a castle-like structure built on higher ground. A smooth landing and an elevator ride later, I was standing in a well-designed but rather empty office. It was mostly green, with a single curved desk and chair decorated with a theme of clockwork and gears, this was accentuated by the clock pattern on the window behind it overlooking the entirety of the castle courtyard and the city further below.

If this was meant to be a show of power meant to impress, well, I'd seen better. However, I suspected that wasn't the case. The man's gait while were walking was relaxed and casual, deceptively so. I could tell he was ever vigilant and on guard, but he wasn't trying to show off. The blonde woman who piloted the airplane had followed closely behind, occasionally glancing around, most likely to make sure no one saw us.

The way they acted, along with the impractical elevation of the office, the sound-proof glass and the pointedly heavy shut of the door behind me meant this was probably all for the sake of secrecy.

I was no stranger to keeping the secrets of the Moonlit World from the common folks, so I followed in silence.

"Have a seat young man, we have much to discuss." The man gestured to a chair opposite to his, the woman had opted to stand next to him.

I nodded and obliged.

"My name is professor Ozpin, I'm the headmaster of Beacon academy. First of all, who are you?"  
"Emiya Shirou, first name Shirou," I answered.  
The woman quickly produced a small device and appeared to be checking something before shaking her head at Ozpin.  
"I see, well Mr. Emiya, we've taken the liberty of looking through all of the Kingdoms' records for someone who matched your appearance while we were getting here." The man took a sip of what I assume to be coffee from his mug before continuing. "I'm sure you understand the need for keeping track of who exactly we're bringing into our city. Yet even with your provided name, we haven't had any luck. Therefore, the first order of business tonight is to confirm your identity."

I felt somewhat relieved, at least there wasn't some other Emiya Shirou walking around in this world or things would get messy fast. That being said, I couldn't exactly tell them I was from another dimension, plus I needed more information.

"I'm from… outside, I've never traveled to the Kingdoms" I paused and tried to make something up but ended up drawing a complete blank. I could only hope he wouldn't press any further.

"So, you're from the settlements outside the Kingdoms, that explains why we have no records of you." Fortunately for me, he seemed to have come to a satisfactory conclusion regarding my origins. "What were you doing on the outskirts of Vale then?"

"I, well…" I stumbled with my words for a moment, before deciding to simply say the minimum. I wasn't a good liar, but I can at least not let the whole truth slip. "Certain circumstances have led me to ending up here by accident. As for the Grimm, they attacked me, I defended myself, and more kept coming. That was all there was to it."

"I take it that wasn't your first time fighting?" he pressed, folding his arms on the desk while leaning forward slightly.

"No, I was taught by my guardian and another teacher. The rest I picked up on my own." It wasn't a lie. Fuji-nee had tried to teach me kendo. Though being good at something didn't mean you were good at teaching it. This went double for Fuji-nee, given her short temper and scatterbrained tendencies. Saber was brutal by every sense of the word, but at least her lessons had worked.

There was a moment of silence as Ozpin seemed to slowly consider the implications of my answer.

"Are you aware of the nature of the power you wield?" He finally asked.

I wasn't surprised he knew it was magecraft. Judging from the presence, or more accurately, lack thereof, of any magical signature from the woman next to him, I had guessed that magic circuits were also a rarity in this world. Perhaps magecraft here functioned differently due to the lack of interference from Gaia which led to accidents that people like him work to prevent. That was just one theory. Given the man's poker face, he certainly seemed crafty and experienced enough to be scheming to take advantage of me somehow. I couldn't see a large enough potential benefit to showing my hand here, it was better to keep as much information about my magecraft as I could to myself should I need to fight them in the future.

"It's my ability," I said, finally. "I could make weapons."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow, then leaned back on his chair, seemingly having given up on pursing the subject.

"Very well then, what will you do once you leave this place, would you need assistance in getting home?"

I considered the question. I didn't know how to get home, that would require some research into this world to see if there were any such means. Alternatively, I could pursue my ideal in this world. In any case I needed to get up to date on how the world works and current events. Ozpin claimed to be the headmaster of a school, perhaps I could ask for a look in the library. With that in mind, I formulated an answer.

"I don't have a home to return to, not anymore" I said slowly. I had sold my house in Fuyuki as I had always been traveling and barely ever returned there. Whenever I did, I would just stay with Fuji-nee.

"I see." Ozpin's features softened at that. "I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me, I had not considered that was the reason you were here."

"I will find work to support myself, but before I leave, would you mind if I took a look at your library? Growing up in an isolated community seemed to have left me lacking in some base knowledge."

"Ah, then I have a proposition for you, Mr. Emiya." Ozpin replied, the corner of his mouth quirked up in a smile upon hearing my answer. "Would you like to attend Beacon Academy?"

The woman next to him stumbled and dropped her device.

"What?" she and I both asked incredulously.

* * *

Within a single day, I'd gone on a Dead Apostle hunt, been sucked into another dimension, fought an endless horde of hell-spawns, been interrogated by apparently the headmaster of a school designed to train warriors and will now be attending said school going forward.

I sighed. Zelretch had a hand in this, I just knew it.

Ozpin had offered me room and board and a path towards getting a huntsman license, which would help in finding the type of work I tend to favor, apparently all in light of the abilities I displayed today. He even offered me a Scroll, which was what passed for a communication device here, and some amount of Lien, the local currency, so I could buy school supplies, and whatever else I needed to get started.

The deal had been too good to be true. There had to have been some reason he wanted me to attend. Regardless, I could back out if I wanted later on, and I really needed the head start he was offering, so I agreed. The woman next to him, who I learned was called Glynda Goodwitch, had been fuming all the while. My experiences with Rin told me the moment I was out of that door, he was getting an earful. I shuddered at the thought, the amount of Od Rin possessed was several times that of the average magus. Whenever something, usually me, pissed her off, her Crest would turn into what I liked to call the Gandr machine-gun. I seriously doubt even my Reality Marble could fire that quickly when it came down to it.

I closed my book, making a sound that echoed across the empty library. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Classes would only start after initiation for first years, so the campus was empty.

Within the past few hours I'd managed to learn quite a bit about the world I was stuck in.

Firstly, the creatures I'd fought weren't an isolated incident. Apparently 99% of life forms on this planet were some form of Grimm, and every source I had found so far stated that they were soulless creatures that are attracted to negative emotions like anger, fear, distress and the like. They also seemed to disintegrate into nothingness when killed, making further study rather difficult.

The other two prominent species were humans and Faunus, which were simply just humans with added animal features. It seemed biological classification was a lot laxer here, you can't get away with grouping a guy with cat ears and another with bull horns into a single species back home. Of course, discrimination was rampant, and while I didn't bother looking too deeply into the specifics, it was enough to know that both groups went to war against each other for a time over it.

There was an endless looming threat just outside their city walls and they decided to kill each other over pointless differences? It was good to know humans stupidity was the same here I suppose.

Secondly, the basis for this world's civilization seemed to be something known as Dust. According to these books it was some form of naturally occurring crystallized energy source that could be found and excavated underground. There wasn't a theory on how they were formed yet, but they were plentiful and appeared to be inexplicably self-replenishing as the crystals seemed to naturally regrow.

There were 4 base types of Dusts which can be combined to form more variety. These were used to power every modern convenience imaginable, including weapons to fight back against the Grimm. I made a mental note to acquire some for experimentation later.

Finally, the people of this world seemed to possess something called Aura. They called it a physical manifestation of the soul which envelops the body and protects it from harm, as well as healing any injuries so long as it had not run out. If developed to a certain degree, the user will be able to access something called a Semblance. Something akin to a super-power unique to that individual and reflecting who they were as a person. In short, everyone had a mini-reality-marble with basic defensive and healing properties, that was a scary thought.

To fit in I would have to find some way to imitate this. Avalon would suffice for healing, but preventing damage was beyond me. I supposed I needed to not get hit in the first place if I wanted to keep this up. I'd tested the scroll and it seemed to react to my Od and measure it as if it were Aura, so at least I wouldn't run into trouble there.

I glanced at the clock and realized it was almost 3 AM. I should be getting some sleep in, I thought while laying down on the bench. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but I'd dealt with worse on some missions.

In the end, I supposed everything did not turn out too badly. All I wanted was to save people, going to a school designed to teach people how to do just that seemed like a good idea. I would also be getting necessary information from the other classes as well, and perhaps helping the next generation of this world's defenders along isn't a bad thing either. Those were my final thoughts before sleepiness overtook me.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of aircraft propellers. I quickly glanced at the windows to find that the sun was up, and probably had been for quite some time. Beyond the glass I could see lots of young people walking about.

Right, initiation.

A quick trip to the bathroom later, I was wide awake and presentable. I must say, the new students were wearing some very flashy outfits, probably aiming to impress on their first day to make a friend or two. One girl wearing red and black caught my eye. Her getup wasn't the most impressive per se, it was just that she managed to fall into a cart of suitcases headfirst.

Ouch. That had to hurt.

The owner of the suitcases, a girl in white, naturally got mad and started yelling at the other girl while spraying the contents of the vial in her hand into the free air, seemingly to make a point. This caused the smaller girl to sneeze and literally explode. The girl in white yelped and the vial flew out of her hand and towards my direction. I quickly caught it to prevent further damage.

"Fire Dust", said the label on the thing. Interesting, so physical stimulus could cause the substance to combust. I wonder if this was true with all Dust, I really need to set up a workshop soon for all these experiments I'd been taking mental notes of. I was broken out of my musings by more screaming and yelling. I sighed and walked towards the mess.

"I'm really, really sorry!" The girl in red seemed to shrink back, twiddling her two indexes together in nervousness.

"Ugh! You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" The other girl leaned further and further into her with every little bit of ground she gave and raised her voice to match.

"Well…"

"Hey, that's enough." I interrupted sternly. "She already apologized."

"But she-"  
"Look, it was an accident, and nobody got hurt," I cut her off. The men behind her had finished gathering the suitcases. "You are older than her, so you should be the bigger person, right? Forgive the kid, she'll learn someday."

"You-"  
She stopped herself and digested what I said, her eyes softened slightly. "You have a point. I have better things to do than this. Good day."

Damn, I was used to those holier-than-thou types. You had to appeal to their need for moral superiority to get them to back off. I was once more reminded that I'm dealing with kids here.

I turned around to greet the sorry state of the girl I'd just defended. Her clothing was miraculously unharmed.

"Hey," I started. "I'm Shirou, you alright?"

"Ruby, and yeah, I'm fine."

"Hmm, well, let's head to the main hall. There's going to be an opening speech soon."

"Oh… Yeah! Um! Let's go!" the girl almost sped off.

"Ruby." I managed to grab her shoulder, halting her acceleration before pointing to the opposite direction. "It's this way."

I chuckled at the blush making its way up her cheeks.

* * *

We walked in an awkward silence. Well, for her maybe. She was clearly trying pretty hard to say something, while I just inwardly hid my amusement.

"Sooooo… I got this thing."

In a practiced movement, she pulled a mechanical contraption that was strapped to her belt out right as it unfurled into a giant scythe.

"Impressive." I whistled. "I can tell it's custom built."

"It's also a-"

"High impact velocity sniper rifle, right?" I finished for her, still looking at the scythe and figuring out its inner workings. Her eyes widened to a comical degree.

"How'd you know?"

"Ah, let's just say I'm somewhat of a weapons maniac." I admitted casually.

"OH MY GOSH! YOU TOO?!"

That wasn't the reaction I expected. I couldn't help but smile at her antics though, it was adorable.

"We are going to be best friends! Besties!" She grabbed my hand and shook it excitedly. "So, what's your weapon? Showmeshowmeshowme!"

"I don't have any" I grinned.

"I don't believe you!"

Ruby ran circles around me at rather impressive speeds, leaving a trail of swirling rose petals in her wake. Huh, must be her Semblance.

"Where are you hiding it?" she asked once again.

"I'm telling you. I don't have it with me right now"

"Ugrh! Fine!" she threw her hands up in frustration before narrowing her eyes at me. "This isn't over, mister!"

* * *

The moment we got to the main hall, Ruby made a beeline for a blonde girl standing at the back. Admittedly, the first thought that crossed my mind was "blonde bombshell".

"Yaaaaaang, that was so mean!"

"Oh hey, little sister!" The girl, Yang waved at us before looking at me with surprise and a bit of mirth. "Daaaamnnn Rubes, I left you for a moment and you already got yourself a boyfriend? You work fast."

I raised an eyebrow at her while Ruby devolved into a stuttering mess.

"Wha-wa, YANG, WE ARE NOT LIKE THAT!"

"Calm down Ruby, she's just teasing you. Also, you're being too loud."

The nearby students seemed to have stopped chatting with each other and opted to stare at us after Ruby yelled. As for Ruby, she shrunk back sheepishly, still bright red.

I shook my head in amusement, she was too easy.

"Shirou, Emiya Shirou" I extended a hand towards the other girl, "Pleasure to meet you. You're Ruby's sister?"

"Yup! Name's Yang Xiao Long" She took it casually before giving me a bone-crushing grip.

I reinforced my hand and took it with a smile. Maybe Yang just has an overprotective streak towards Ruby. I can certainly sympathize as a fellow older sibling. So I don't hold it against her.

"Damn, not bad Ruby. Solid physique, polite, and didn't even flinch under my gauntlet. I can't say there's anything I disapprove of." She patted Ruby on the back, causing the smaller girl to blush even harder.

At this point Ozpin appeared on stage and lightly coughed into the microphone, getting everyone's attention.

His speech was short, it was neither terrible, nor was it motivational and awe-inspiring. If anything, it was a little bit off.

like Ruby said, "It's like he wasn't even there."

Glynda took over once he was done, telling us to gather in the ballroom for the night and be ready for tomorrow.

Inevitably, we went out separate ways as the boys and girls were expected to sleep in separate areas. I wished them good night with a wave, before finding a good spot to turn in for the night.

* * *

I swear, Ozpin was probably related to Zelretch somehow.

We were launched several dozen meters into the air.

Off a cliff.

Into a Grimm infested forest.

To make matters worse, whoever we first made eye contact with would be our partner for the next 4 years.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

I reinforced my legs and traced a few ordinary swords in the air below me so I can find some purchase. Kicking off a few of them, I eventually got down to a reasonable altitude to land on a tree branch.

I was one of the last to be launched. While I wasn't exactly picky with teammates, I was used to working alone, and I'd rather not have to deal with someone like that pompous rich girl from yesterday.

The branch below my feet shook slightly. That was all the warning I got before it decided to snap completely, making me lose my balance and fell flat into the ground.

At least that's what I thought would happen. Instead, something soft broke my fall.

"Ow" a quiet voice wailed. To my horror, I realized I'd fallen on top of a young girl, flattening her to the ground in my stead. I jumped in a hurry and helped her up.

"I'm really, really sorry." I apologized. At the back of my mind, a sarcastic little voice that sounded remarkably like Archer pointed out that I was saying the same thing Ruby had said yesterday after her own mess. I quickly squashed the thought. "Are you alright?"

"I..um…I guess"  
It was clear that she was still recovering from my blunder. The girl wore a long-sleeved brown jacket and shorts on top of a black undershirt, her protective gear were minimal, with only spaulders and vambraces. Clearly designed for speed and maneuverability rather than protection. She was still trying to straighten her long brown hair.

"I guess this makes us partners" I sighed, "Once again I apologize, my name is Emiya Shi…rou.."

The words almost died in my mouth when I noticed two large rabbit ears straightening themselves on top of her head.

By the Root, did I just get partnered with an actual bunny girl?!

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hello everyone, Thanks for reading.**

**I've had this idea for quite some time after reading much of the Fate x RWBY stuff and finally worked up the courage to upload my own.**

**This is my first fic, and English isn't my first language, so I apologize about my grammar or any mistakes I might have made. I hope you enjoy anyway.**

**That's all from me, let me know what you think ^^.**


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, I'd already considered the possibility that my partner would be a Faunus.

What I didn't prepare for, however, was the fact that she would be a bunny girl. I mean, seriously! Bunny ears were something that I'd only seen at cosplay conventions or fetish shops and cafes.

I knew I took too long staring, with a dumb look on my face no doubt, because the girl's long ears drooped.

"Do you... not like Faunus?"

She asked timidly shrinking back to herself slightly, then covering her ears with her hands with the most heartbreaking expression on her face.

Boy was I woefully unprepared for that destructive power. I quickly tried to defuse the situation, raising my hands placatingly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare. It's just those ears looked so cute on you I-"

I immediately realized I'd just blurted out something stupid but had been too late to cut myself off in time. Those long rabbit ears stood straight up. I managed to see blood rushed to her face for a brief moment before she averted her gaze to the ground, her bangs covering her eyes.

"O-oh-I-um-right-ah... th-thank you..." she stammered.

I sighed in relief.

"Right, let's do this again. I'm Emiya Shirou. We'll be partners for the next 4 years at Beacon. Pleasure to meet you."

I reintroduced myself while put on my best smile and offered my hand.

"Ah, V-Velvet Scarlatina... um... L-Likewise"

She was still slightly hesitant before shaking my hand, but the trepidation in her voice was thankfully gone.

With the situation under control, I took notice of the light accent in her English. It had sounded almost British, I would know, having spent quite some time in the Clock Tower myself, but I wasn't an experienced enough English speaker to tell what it was exactly. My eyes landed on the box strapped to her belt behind her, my reflexive Structural Analysis revealed it to be a camera of sorts. I couldn't quite understand its functionality completely due to some strange foreign materials used in its construction. Perhaps it was Dust, or some other element of this world that I had yet to completely understand. Other than that, the girl seemed to not have any weapons whatsoever.

My thoughts were interrupted when I sensed multiple presences around us. I noticed Velvet's ears twitch before she shifted into full alert and a basic battle stance.

"Beowolves" she said. I nodded, Grimm came in many forms, and from what I'd managed to gather from my research yesterday these were considered the weakest and most common type.

"Trace…"

The first one leaped at me, claws outstretched for a swipe.

"...on."

Kanshou and Bakuya formed in my hands, parrying the blow with ease. I extended Kanshou to narrowly block a second strike from my flank. A small pause in their movements was all I needed to take a quick swing, taking out the first attacker. I turned towards the second just in time to dodge a bite.

I was going to follow through with decapitating the beast, when yet another Beowolf pounced me from behind, forcing me to block.

That would have been the case if Velvet hadn't kicked it out of the way, sending the creature crashing into a nearby trunk. I quickly finished both of them by throwing my swords, ducking under another predictable animalistic blow and baited it into being in the line of fire of Kanshou's return arc. It didn't stand a chance.

There was a quick flash of a camera and my eyes darted towards Velvet who was hastily putting her camera back into the box where it belonged. She narrowly avoided a strike while doing so, before weaving between three Beowolves. I had to hand it to her, that agility was nothing to scoff at, but she was sorely lacking in the offensive department. That was until a translucent light started to form in her hands.

Before long she was holding photographic copies of Kanshou and Bakuya.

You have got to be kidding me. I could feel my eyes going wide when she held those swords in a ridiculous stance.

It was open.

It was full of holes.

It was also the stance I was in a moment ago.

The Grimm, unthinking beasts that they were, charged in for round two. Only this time, every strike at her was parried at the last moment. Then, in a ridiculous fashion she mimicked my movements down to the letter, a quick swing after a block that took out one, then a dodge into two sword throws that took out the other two. Instead of spinning back towards one another though, the holographic swords shattered on impact, seemingly dissolving into nothingness.

We stood there stock still in the aftermath without bothering to hide the shock on our faces. She was like me, a faker.

* * *

"Was that your semblance?"  
Velvet asked, finally breaking the silence.  
"Yeah, I can make copies of weapons I've seen." I answered, deciding to go with the story I had prepared beforehand. I'd figured there was no way I could hide my abilities for long, the most I could do would be refraining from tracing any of the higher ranked Noble Phantasms.

"That's… incredible." The girl was gaping at me now.

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly. I wasn't sure about the exact workings of Auras and Semblances here, but it seemed like she bought it. I changed the topic by gesturing towards her box.

"How does that camera work? I've never seen anything like it."

Velvet perked up at that, tapping the box behind her to open it. "This is Anesidora, my weapon."  
She smiled shyly, bringing the camera up to show me.  
"I can make copies of weapons I have pictures of using Hard-Light Dust"

"So, basically, it can use a picture as a blueprint and then assemble Hard-Light Dust into that structure?"  
Velvet's eyes widened and her features brightened considerably, almost glowing with excitement.  
"Oh my god, how did you know?"

"Well" I smiled, tapping my temple. "I keep my own blueprints in here, then mold my… Aura… into weapons. I guess me and Anesidora are like long lost siblings."

She giggled at that, using one hand to cover her mouth. I couldn't resist a chuckle myself.

"So how did you copy my style?" I asked.

"That's my Semblance. I can mimic the way people fight if I've seen it once."

"And you designed the perfect weapon to complement it. How did you even come up with this? That's amazingly resourceful and well thought out, I'm impressed."

She flushed, I guess she wasn't used to being complimented. I smiled, I have no pride in my swords either, but I was born with this ability. What she had was much more limited, but she came up with an ingenious solution.

"We should probably get moving, those relics aren't going to find themselves." I said finally, looking up at the sun through the canopy to determine directions and headed North. Our task for initiation was supposed to find and retrieve some relics at an abandoned temple in that direction. We made our way through the dense foliage figuring out the differences between our techniques. A few individual Grimm barred our path, but nothing like the pack we dealt it earlier, so they were quickly dealt with.

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch watched the various live feeds on her scroll, the students were joining up, most had already had partners and were heading North. Ruby Rose, the girl she and Ozpin picked up after that Dust shop robbery, had been paired with Weiss Schnee. They were polar opposites in every possible way, that partnership would be rough on everyone involved. Then again, she had seen worse pairings over the years.

Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie seemed to work extraordinarily well together despite their vast difference in personality. The girl, Nora, was on a constant sugar high, meeting every challenge with excitement while her partner, Ren, tried his best to contain her antics to a reasonable level while mostly keeping to himself.

"Ozpin, what do you think about the students this year?"

"They show a lot of promise, but in any case, this will no doubt be a very interesting year at the very least." The man raised his mug to take a sip in such a way as to cover his smile. Glynda frowned, her eyes glancing over the feed that Ozpin had been looking at. It showed the young man they had found on the outskirts of Vale just the day prior and his partner.

Wasn't that the girl who got held back a year?

* * *

We got over a small hill and the temple was in a small clearing below.  
Well, calling it a temple was a stretch. It was simply a round platform, with several stone pillars supporting a ring structure. Some of the pillars, along with most of the stone-brick walls behind it, had already collapsed and lay scattered around the ruin, moss and mushrooms growing over them. There was a ring of altars in the middle, each holding… a chess piece?

"This is probably it." I muttered. Velvet nodded in agreement and we made our way down.

"I guess… we should… um… pick one?" she said when we got there. I quickly looked through the pieces and determined that they were completely ordinary before reaching out and taking the gold knight piece. I had no practical reason to pick any one piece over the other, so I picked the one that reminded me of Saber and handed it to Velvet.

"Here, have any spare space in that box? We probably shouldn't lose it getting back."

"Right."

It was then that I heard a rustling of leaves from the direction we had just came from and looked up towards the hill. It was Yang and another girl I don't recognize, I waved at them.

"Yo! Fancy meeting you here, Handsome, nice partner you got there." Yang greeted me after sliding down the slope with her partner.

"Ah yeah this is-" I motioned towards Velvet, only to find she was nervously hiding behind me and gripping my red overcoat. I raised an eyebrow. I suppose she wasn't used to talking to strangers?

"Aw, come on, we don't bite." Yang stepped closer and then she suddenly gushed. "Oh my gosh are those rabbit ears?! They look soooo cute!"

I smiled wryly. Turning to Velvet, I whispered a quick "Told you" to her long ears and then gave her a light push towards Yang. I could barely make out the betrayed look she threw my way before she was swallowed by Yang's hug.

With those two occupied, I walked towards the last person there. The girl had long red hair tied into a ponytail, her green eyes were filled with mirth watching Yang's antics. I also noted that she wore a lot more armor than the average student. Aside from the tough metal reinforcing her corset, she had a full set of bronze cuisses, bracers and greaves, an additional bronze plate on her hip and a circlet. That's on top of being a spear and shield fighter, this girl was battle ready and it showed in her gait and movements. As sad as it was, I was much more used to people like her, heck, way more armed and paranoid than her, than the kids at Beacon.

"Shirou. Emiya Shirou, nice to meet you."

"Pyrrha Nikos," she took my offered hand with a strong grip and a polite smile. "Hello."

I nodded and gestured towards the relics. "You should take one, it will be a while yet before they're done."

It seemed as though she was surprised for a moment, but she hid it well. Her expression melted into a genuine smile before walking towards the platform. "Yes, you're right."

Hmm, something was missing. It almost seemed wrong for something to go this well considering the warning that Ozpin gave us implying it should be very dangerous. There's also my E-ranked luck which had been decidedly tame today, bunny-girl-weapon-faker notwithstanding.

"HEADS UUUUUUUUP"

Oh, you have got to be kidding me! I can't even be grateful about my luck not acting up in peace?

Why was Ruby falling out of the sky?!

I reinforced my legs and ran as quickly as I could towards her, kicking off a tree trunk and catching her mid-air, then barely landing correctly in my rush.

"You okay?"

"Ah, yeah" Ruby said in a daze, then noticing the situation, a blush crept up her cheeks. "Thanks, you can… um… let me down now."

"Well, if you're sure."

I reinforced my eyes and watched the skies, quickly spotting a giant Grimm bird, a Nevermore, I'd read about them too. It was several times larger than the ones I fought when I first got here, easily the size of a small house. And hanging off one of its talons was that girl in white Ruby blew up yesterday.

The girl was cursing Ruby at the top of her lungs. I winced. That was one rough partnership.

"Ruby, are you sure she's okay up there?"

"She'll be fine."

Just then, another pair of students, a boy and a girl this time, rode in on a Grimm.

I sighed exasperatedly. Was this going to happen whenever I thought about anything that sounded remotely like tempting fate?

If one more insane thing were to happen right now I would-

An utterly gigantic scorpion followed in along with the new pair.

Okay.

I was so tempted to just trace a pillow and scream into it.

* * *

A while later, the girl in white, who I learned was called Weiss, managed a rough landing into one of the trees, but aside from looking a bit disheveled she was fine. Aura was seriously useful.

Now to think of a way to fight the monsters we'd managed to draw in.

The scorpion I could probably manage. Something tells me ordinary swords weren't going to be enough to shoot the bird down, I could probably manage with a Broken Phantasm, but that would reveal too much of my abilities to Ozpin and the kids. Afterwards, I'd be on the receiving end of questions I'd rather not have to answer.

"Shirou." I felt a tug on my sleeve, it was Ruby.

"Hmm?"

"Sorry if I'm interrupting, you looked deep in thought there. We have to move now though."

"Oh, you have a plan on fighting those things?"

"We don't have to. Our objective was to retrieve these and survive, not to beat them."

I suddenly felt really stupid. She was absolutely correct. I guess I was too used to taking out threats while trying to be a hero. The thought of simply running didn't even cross my mind and I completely forgot the point of the mission.

"Right. Let's go."

* * *

We reached another set of ruins, managing to outrun the Deathstalker and fend off whatever attacks the Nevermore had been dishing out so far.

But making our way through an ancient stone-brick bridge precariously held up by a few stone pillars over a chasm with them on our tail? That wasn't happening.

We must have been launched pass this area, now we had to make the return trip manually.

"That thing is circling back, and we won't make it past." Weiss helpfully articulated my thoughts.

"Any ideas?" I asked.

"We take it out." Ruby answered.

"Well we've tried all of our ranged options so far." I rebutted. The kids had plenty of firepower, but most of them just bounced off the creature. Then I suddenly thought of something. "If you managed to bring it close, I have a way to down it."

She looked at me in mild surprise and nodded. "I have a plan, cover me."

The girl exploded into rose petals. She was going to use her speed-based Semblance to cross the bridge and draw it in. I would cover fire but-

A holographic copy of Crescent Rose landed in my hand, it helpfully shifted into a sniper rifle. I looked over at Velvet.

"You can't make Dust right?" She asked, working on her camera and projector. "Anesidora can reproduce Dust, now cover her."

I quickly took aim and fired at the Grimm, mostly to slow it down so Ruby can make it. Next to me, Velvet was lining up her own shots with another copy.

The bird was getting frustrated at being unable to hit the swift red reaper with its feathers and looked like it was going to swoop down to hit her.

"WEISS!" Ruby shouted at us.

Lining up her rapier in a casting motion with her hand, a line of Glyphs appeared on the bridge. Weiss nodded at me and I burst into action.

Reinforcing my leg, I ran as fast as I could on the time dilation glyphs that helped speed me up. I fired the Crescent Rose copy behind me like a rocket engine until it broke then discarded it.

"Trace on."

I needed to picture it, a sword that I had only seen once.

An image of a katana formed in my head. It was long, almost unnaturally so.

Its wielder was a strange individual, with no actual legend to his name. He was summoned a phantom, a wraith of a more well-known legend, chosen by the Grail only because he was the most suitable for the role.

Sympathizing with the experiences of the blade, my mind gradually became empty.

Before I knew it, I was in front of Ruby, staring down the Nevermore. The scenery before me seemed to melt away into something else. The bridge turned into a set of stairs leading up a hill. Beneath the winter moon, the wind blew over the red temple gate at the crest of the hill, rustling the leaves.

I felt an odd sense of calm overtake me, the katana held in a firm but relaxed grip at my side. Despite the bird still being in the sky, I felt like I was the one looking down on it from atop the stairs that led to the temple gate.

I barely registered the bird shrieking and sending a torrent of razor-sharp feathers at us on its mad charge. My mind became clear like the lake where a swordsman long ago practiced the one skill he achieved in his life. The excessive length of the katana swung up in a beautiful and smooth arc, deflecting one feather after another with almost no effort.

There was someone behind me who I had to protect, not a single one of them was allowed to pass. Yet knowing that did nothing to disturb the perfectly still state that my mind was in. Every movement flowed perfectly into the next. The sword flicked out countless times at speeds that boggled the mind and yet somehow managing to look like a few lazy swings. Feathers the size of grown men seemed to slide off its edge harmlessly.

The Nevermore roared in rage. With a mighty flap of those enormous wings it shot forward at us, intent on knocking us off, if not taking the whole bridge out.

It was in range. I turned my back to the bird, glancing briefly at Ruby to see the gobsmacked expression on her face and held the katana at my head level, parallel to the ground.

This was it.

"Hiken-"

I turned my head towards my target, prana surged outwards, reinforcing the structure of the projection. The length of the blade seemed to gleam with untold sharpness, ready to be used for its intended purpose.

After all, Nevermores were just bigger swallows, right?

"Tsubame Gaeshi."

The blade moved, then blurred in an impossible manner. There was no defense, no hope of evasion, nothing. The attacks hadn't just come quickly, they had come simultaneously. Bending space-time itself to multiply its existence, it was a skill of a swordsman whose life only had one purpose, and with that he created a skill for man to "challenge god". Three cuts arched over the entire body of the massive bird, cutting off its wings then the remainder into halves and then more halves.

The pieces of the bird, still carried by the momentum of its charge, flew past us harmlessly and into the chasm below. I calmly lowered my sword, then slung it over my shoulder and tried to slide it into its sheath, only to realize there was none. The sword vanished when I dismissed it and I can feel my calm state of mind slip away.

"THAT WAS SO COOOOOL!"

I almost staggered when Ruby jumped me from behind with excitement.

"How did you do that? Was that your weapon? Where did it go? Oh my gosh you gotta show me!"

I scratched the back of my head and looked back at the rest of our group. It seemed they'd manage to deal with the Deathstalker as well. Velvet and Weiss looked like they had a lot of questions about my display.

I sighed. I just hope they thought I'd swung really fast rather than breaking the laws of physics with that move.

With that, we made the rest of our way back to Beacon without any further obstacles except for Ruby's incessant insistence that I show her my weapons. We ended up talking about mine and Velvet's abilities along the way.

* * *

"**Y**ang Xiao Long. Lie **R**en. Pyrrha **N**ikos. **N**ora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team YRNN (Iron)."

The four of them made their way on stage as the Headmaster announced their names and team name. I wonder if he ever finished that mug of his, because he always seemed to be holding one.

"Led by… Lie Ren."

The young man of the group nodded and accepted his position, his excited partner hugged him in celebration.

Of course, there would be some sort of leadership, it was a borderline requirement in teams. Even if the method for selecting partners and teams were quite questionable (Seriously, first eye-contact and matching chess pieces? What?), they had enough sense to select a leader, possibly through observing our performance.

I stood up when I saw our faces and names appear on the display screen behind Ozpin and moved on stage along with the rest.

"For the final team. Ruby **R**ose. Weiss **S**chnee. Velvet **S**carlatina. **E**miya Shirou. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team RSSE (Rose). Led by… Ruby Rose!"

The girl in questions had her eyes comically wide in shock. I can understand her surprise, she was the youngest member of the team, yet was chosen as Leader. I felt some relief though, I had half expected to be selected as leader given my luck and the Nevermore I took out. Though now that I thought about it, it had been a team effort and Ruby was the one who took initiative. I was just glad I didn't have to lead the kids. Knowing me, sooner or later I'd have them follow one of my reckless ideas and get them killed.

I smiled as Yang cheered for Ruby from below the stage, proud of her little sister no doubt. I couldn't resist how adorable she looked while troubled like that and reached out my hand to pat her head, ruffling her hair a bit. This reminded me a bit of Ilya and how she would demand head pats from me daily.

Ruby puffed out her cheeks cutely and looked away, but otherwise did not protest the gesture. She was slightly flushed, probably embarrassed at being treated like a kid.

I closed my eyes and soaked myself in the atmosphere, letting the adrenaline of the battle prior wash away. It was calm, no one got hurt and everyone was happy.

Yeah, this was the of world I would fight for.

"Shirou? A-are you alright there?"

I heard Velvet ask curiously, one of her rabbit ears bending down in concern.

"Yeah, just enjoying the moment." I replied. "We really earned it today."

She smiled at that. It was then that I noticed Weiss standing behind her, looking a bit dissatisfied. Ah, she probably wanted to be leader. Well, it's probably nothing serious.

Those were my last thoughts as I moved off stage.

* * *

Ozpin watched as team RSSE left, concluding the ceremony. The two anomalies he had his eye on had conveniently ended up on the same team without him needing to do anything. It seemed the gods always had interesting plans for the future. It was why he would always let partners and teams find themselves rather than intervening, his gambit had paid off once more.

"I was right, this will be an interesting year".

The old soul turned around and made his way back to his office.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hello again.**

**Thank you so much for all the feedback, you guys are awesome! I'd never imagine getting this much views let alone people thinking that my writing was enjoyable.**

**To address some of your questions:**

**Yes, I am aware Velvet is a second year. What can I say? I wanted to make a Shirou Velvet team without throwing him into CFVY and having to resort to time skipping. As you can probably tell from reading this chapter, I have some explanations planned for that later. You can treat this as an AU where Velvet goes to Beacon a year late and the rest of team CFVY basically doesn't exist.**

**And to answer one of the Guest reviewers, as well as anyone who might be wondering "Which Shirou is this?"**

**This is Fate route Shirou who has grown older and traveled the world trying to live up to his ideal and being a hero. If you've missed the paragraph in chapter 1, I did explain that the portal seemed to have de-aged Shirou. He lost some of his height and his hair and eye color were reverted to what they were during his teenage years so he wouldn't look too old for school to the rest of the RWBY characters.**

**Most of Shirou's Noble Phantasms are what he gleamed a bit from Archer, the various servants of the Grail War, Saber's memories via the Dream Sequences and the two times he had to face Gilgamesh and his Gate of Babylon. For our guest reviewer, yes, GoB is where Hrunting came from.**

**What Shirou did after the war will be expanded upon later on. Once again, thank you so much for reading ^^.**


	3. Chapter 3

It was nighttime when we were finally done going through the various procedures of admission and getting showed to our dorm rooms. The girls had all but collapsed onto their respective beds when we got there.

I was honestly surprised they were going to let teenage boys and girls share a dorm room just like that. I attributed it to a difference in culture and partly the fault of my admittedly conservative upbringing. Regardless, I was too old for these girls so it wouldn't be a problem. It felt as if I was forgetting something important with that line of thinking, but I ignored it. Over the years, I'd learned that it was a defense mechanism designed to make me not throw up my hands in frustration at my situation. Ignorance was bliss after all.

I certainly wasn't tired, perhaps due to being more accustomed to live combat. In any case, it was a good opportunity to sneak away.

There were a lot of things I had to do away from prying eyes. At first, I'd considered doing some more research, but I'd figured I'd be getting that information from classes starting tomorrow.

Next was scouting out the school grounds. Checking all the buildings and routes, I noted that it was always fairly simple to get to the Bullhead docks. It was easy enough to reach even via rooftops, as they were built with descending height from Beacon Tower to the docks. Considering these were people who expected a bunch of kids to land without trouble after being launched off a cliff, I can see why they designed the combat school to suit the level of mobility their students were capable of. Even if said students were obviously polite enough to only make full use of these designs in emergencies.

Familiarizing myself with the campus grounds certainly helped plan out escape routes and quick ways to get to certain areas in the event of an attack, or if I had to save someone.

Or if I had to fight off any threats with minimum collateral damage, even if that was against the teachers or the headmaster.

I sometimes wondered if the paranoia of the magi I had to regularly deal with had rubbed off on me. In the end, I suppose it wasn't all bad. Preparing for the worst had benefitted me greatly in the past considering my luck. It was somewhat like my fighting style. Tempt fate into doing its worst, then prepare for that exact scenario.

There wasn't a good place to set up a workshop. The school was too modern and new, no abandoned shacks or warehouses. Progress on finding a way home would be seriously slow if I had to set one up in the city below and do experiments on the weekends, but there wasn't a more feasible option right now.

For the time being, the rooftop of the dorms would do for simple tracing experiments and testing with Dust in general.

"Trace on."

I whispered the familiar self-hypnosis trigger and the familiar image of cocking the hammer of a gun flashed through my mind.

Kanshou and Bakuya quickly appeared in my hands.

I had some what noticed before, but now I was sure. My projection magecraft normally consumed some amount of Od to fight back the influence of the World attempting to fix the inconsistency. There appeared to be none here. They were functionally, for all intents and purposes, real objects until dismissed or unless targeted by weapons specifically designed to break down prana-based structures I supposed.

I could see no reason for anything I'd traced to disappear otherwise. Whatever consciousness this planet possessed either did not exist, had already been killed somehow, or was simply too weak to correct inconsistencies like my projection magecraft.

That made things easier for me, my Od pool had grown over the years and thankfully wasn't reduced during the mishap that dumped me here in this world, but it wasn't exactly great still. The Noble Phantasms I possessed still functioned normally. These conceptual weapons seemed to transcend space time, like their owners on the Throne, to be perfectly capable of actualizing their mysteries regardless of dimensions.

Kanshou and Bakuya vanished from my hands when I dismissed them as I prepared for some mediation.

While my Structural Analysis had been practiced to near perfection, the fact was that the sheer information it could glean from weapons was too much for me to process at once. Meditation sessions helped me better understand new weapons so I could better utilize them in the future.

A copy of Crescent Rose appeared in my hand. This was a weapon made with love, passion, and an admiration of both real and fictional heroic figures in Ruby's life. I felt somewhat guilty for getting a glimpse of Ruby's personal life through the experiences of the weapon, but it helped me better understand my teammate. In my experience, Ruby was an innocent and cheerful girl who sincerely believed in the ideal image of huntsmen and huntresses being heroes of humanity. The girl was a bit socially awkward, and perhaps too interested in weapons, but that made her earnest efforts towards making friends so endearing. Her susceptibility to teasing and utterly adorable reactions certainly helped.

The giant unwieldy scythe dissolved into motes of light and reformed into a smaller white rapier. Myrtenaster was a strange combination of a gun and a sword combined. It was extremely compact, with mechanisms that could be controlled by the sword hand allowing Weiss to seamlessly cycle through the Dust chambers in the middle of combat. The other uses of the weapon involved combining Dust with Weiss' Glyph Semblance, neither of which I can replicate. Although I'd initially judged her as the spoiled rich kid, I could feel a rebellious spirit from sympathizing with the experience of the sword's growth. The girl was lonely in her fight, so much so that her weapon was her only companion for the road. She had fought with blood and tears for the chance of attending this academy, to get away from her family. Honestly, she reminded me of Rin. Someone who could be a bit difficult and dishonest about their feelings but ultimately was a softhearted and kind person.

The final weapon I traced was a bit difficult because it wasn't a weapon at all. Anesidora was a marvel of engineering. The camera was able to capture every wavelength of light and transcribe a complete blueprint of an object onto a mere picture, then extract said blueprint from the image to reproduce the structure. I could feel how much joy designing and building the camera had brought to Velvet, yet that was all. It did not line up with my impression of the girl. I didn't miss how her body tensed and trembled slightly when I stared at her ears in shock. The way she cautiously tracked my every movement before I explained myself, twitching ever so slightly when my hand moved. The way she hid behind me when Yang and Pyrrha arrived. That wasn't just shyness, no, it was signs of trauma from physical abuse. I'd met my fair share of such victims in my line of work, but it honestly baffled me that anyone would want to bully this girl. However, it would have done me no good to ask her about it. To her, I was still a stranger who she had no reason to trust and I didn't want to frighten her away. I wanted to help her, so I needed her to trust me and feel comfortable enough to open up to me about her problems. Which was why I determined that the best course of action was to pretend that I hadn't noticed.

Thus, it was strange that none of what I predicted was reflected in the history of the Camera, it was so filled with happiness and hope… It seemed almost like she had used the time and effort in building the tool to escape reality. That left me with the final option of getting it out of my partner somehow.

With my meditation finished, I started examining some Dust samples I'd managed to acquire from the school earlier. It seemed they handed out Dust to students, within reason of course, considering their practical use.

I simply could not reproduce it. Its structure was alien. I couldn't help but feel like I was looking at a Divine Construct or something similar. The concepts that formed the substance was foreign to human comprehension at its core.

The many varieties of Dust seemed to support this theory. They were naturally aligned with the elements and could be combined with each other to form more complex types. I should probably learn how to use it to avoid suspicion. What would happen if I were to try reinforcing it?

I channeled some od through my circuits and started to prod the substance on my hand with it.

It sizzled.

"Oh shi-"

An explosion and a change of clothes later, I crawled into bed cursing my luck.

* * *

I woke up early and glanced around at the comical sight of my still sleeping teammates. It was somewhat rude to stare at people while they were sleeping so I refrained, but I couldn't help but notice how totally chaotic Ruby's bed was. She had kicked off her blanket at some point during the night and was currently talking in her sleep… about cookies. At least the other two were… less animated in their sleep shall we say.

I decided to get started on my day with a few morning exercises and a quick run. The school was relatively empty early in the morning. The air was fresh, if a bit chilly but it felt nice.

Heading back to the dorms afterwards, I heard some ruckus coming from our room and team YRNN's room on the other side of the corridor. It seemed the kids were finally awake. Shaking my head at how much they slept in despite going to bed early the day prior, I continued on my way to the shower.

I could have sworn I heard some impossibly loud construction noises while making my way back, what was with all the hammering? Was that the rattling of a chainsaw?

Opening the door, I was greeted to the sight of a completely new room, all the scattered luggage was stacked into a corner. A few books were on the shelves, some personal items on their desks. The most glaring thing, though, was the fact that Ruby's bed was hung precariously on top of Weiss' from the ceiling with mere ropes tied to each bedpost. That was a disaster waiting to happen no matter how you looked at it. Velvet seemed to be in the process of figuring out what to do with hers and mine.

"Shirou! Where were you?" Ruby yelled. "Weiss thought that you ditched us in the night or something!"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "No? What gave you that idea?"

"We unpacked and cleaned the whole room but there wasn't a trace of any of your stuff."

Oh, right. I didn't have anything with me except the clothes I arrived here with and the provided uniforms. I'd had to trace a toothbrush and a towel this morning.

I sighed.

"No Ruby, I didn't bring anything except my clothes."

"Wha-But… but what about the stuff you had in your room before? You didn't feel like bringing them?"

"…My room?"

I smiled slightly as I remember the old Japanese bedroom with tatami mats and sliding doors, there was a single window, a small desk and… nothing.

_She touched the wall gently looking as if she could feel its history from the simple soft gesture._

_"…I'm relieved. This is a desolate room, but that does not mean it is treated badly. This is a simple but warm place."_

_Her composed face shifted into a serene smile._

_"Yes, the room is the reflection of its owner, so I was worried about your spirit. But this will not change my impression of you now."_

I shook my head slightly to clear my head of the old memories, earning a few confused looks. I decided to say the same thing I did back then.

"I only used my room to sleep, so there wasn't anything in there."

Ruby stared at me, slack-jawed, like I'd said something incredibly stupid. Weiss gave me a look normally reserved for the mentally ill. Velvet seemed to be debating on whether to be surprised or to snap a shot of her teammates' current expressions.

I sighed. "Look, let's do this later. I'll also help fix the beds… and the curtains." I glanced at the seriously bad patchwork. "But we're going to be late for classes if we don't hurry."

Weiss immediately jumped from her bed after checking her scroll. "Oh my god, Ruby! You didn't keep track of the time you dunce!"

She darted out the door right after.

"T-to class!" Ruby declared with plenty of forced enthusiasm before running after Weiss with her speed semblance.

Velvet and I followed behind, only to find that team YRNN was behind even us still.

Rough first day for everyone it seemed.

* * *

We weren't late, but we had to make our way to the back of the class where available seats were still in abundance. The lecture hall was similar to what we had back home with pitched floors and curved seating arrangements all centered upon a black board with diagrams and drawings of various Grimms and their anatomies. Professor Port, our lecturer, was an elderly looking man with a handlebar moustache. It wouldn't be inaccurate to say it was more of a "How to Tell a Bad Story 101" class rather than Grimm Studies. Nevertheless, I did recognize some value in the unorthodox methods he described to take out the Grimm in less than favorable situations. Perhaps by making the stories so dreadfully long and boring, the little parts that were actually interesting would be committed to memory.

I chuckled at Ruby who spent half the class sleeping and the other half doodling a rather funny picture of our dear professor. Meanwhile, Weiss looked positively livid. Her temper was like an over-inflated balloon that got an extra pump of air every time Ruby did something and it was clearly ready to blow at any moment. Velvet, next to her, was cowering in fear.

"A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do, sir!"

Weiss immediately raised her hand, clearly needing a place to vent her anger. The professor nodded and tugged out a large cage, obviously containing a Grimm. Weiss wasted no time to change into her combat dress and loading her rapier.

"Alright. Let the match, begin."

Professor Port swung his axe down, destroying the lock. The cage immediately swung open and out came the boar creature that I'd fought. That was a Boarbatusk, according to one of the diagrams behind it. True to its name, it had two long tusks growing out of the signature Grimm mask, curving upwards menacingly. As I recalled, it had a strange ability to roll itself into a ball and move at rather high speed.

Velvet was waving a small flag that read RSSE to show her support. I nodded in approval to Weiss and smiled at Ruby who was more vocal than both of us.

"Gooooo Weiss! Represent teaaam RSSE!" she yelled, raising both her arms in excitement.

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus." Weiss snapped back.

"Oh, sorry."

Ruby deflated. I frowned. Was she so petty that she was still mad over not being chosen as leader? This was going to be a problem that needed to be resolved soon if we wanted any chance of being a proper team.

The boar opted to charge with its tusks and Weiss barely managed to deflect while jumping out of the way.

"You can do it Weiss!" Ruby still cheered for her partner. I shook my head, knowing that it would only irritate the heiress.

On the boar's second charge, it managed to hook Myrtenaster into its tusks. No, it was more accurate to say that Weiss' attack was sloppy, possibly because she was letting the frustration get to her. The Boarbatusk's raw strength far exceeded her own and she was disarmed after a quick struggle.

I would give her a few pointers, but my own experiences with how volatile angry women were prevented me from saying anything. Ruby, however, was much braver.

"Weiss! Go for its belly. There's no armor underneath."

"Stop telling me what to do!"

See? That was what I had wanted to avoid.

She blocked the boar's signature wrecking ball charge with a glyph and jumped. Bouncing off another glyph to deliver a direct hit to its belly while it was still unfurling from its ball form after being deflected. She didn't seem any less mad despite making full use of Ruby's advice. As I'd thought, her anger originated from her desire to be leader. Despite the relatively short fight, Weiss was left panting in exertion.

"A fine display! It seems we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training." Professor Port exclaimed while giving a short applause. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings and, stay vigilant. Class dismissed."

Weiss scowled and briskly left the room. a troubled Ruby hurriedly got off from her seat and gave chase. I sighed, turning to Velvet.

"You should go to the dining hall first. I'll deal with them."

The rabbit faunus nodded but was clearly hesitant to leave.

"It's going to be fine, don't worry." I smiled reassuringly,

"U-um… good luck."

"Yeah, I'm going to need that."

* * *

I tracked them to an empty hallway, only in time to catch the tail end of the argument.

"… I've studied, and trained, and quite frankly, I deserve better."

Weiss was borderline shouting at this point. "Ozpin made a mistake."

She marched off another corridor after that line, leaving Ruby reeling in shock and self-doubt. She was very close to losing her balance and just slumping down right there before I decided to round the corner I was hiding behind and helped steady her.

"… Shirou?"

She said weakly, her eyes were still brimming with tears. I traced a handkerchief and wiped it for her. She was too out of it to even react.

"Do you think she was right?" She asked with her head bowed, knowing I had overheard. "I-I mean, I'm two years younger than everyone, and I'm terrible at even talking to people. I'm not fit to be leading around a bunch of people older and more qualified than me. Ozpin must have made a-"

"Ruby." I cut her off. "Let me ask you something. What's your impression of Weiss?"

The young girl seemed confused for a moment, before hesitantly replying.

"Well… She's smart… and knowledgeable. Probably experienced in dealing with people since… you know… she's an heiress and…"

"No, not her capabilities Ruby, her personality. What do you think?"

"Oh… she's… a bit mean. You saw how she yelled at me on our first day for bumping into her stuff. She always wants to look perfect, like she knows everything."

Ruby glanced to the side, gathering her thoughts. "She's so demanding, and bossy and… and… and urgh."

She whined pitifully. "I wanted to like her, I really do, but she makes it so hard. I just want to be her partner, or at least her friend. But whenever I talk to her to try to get to know her better… it's like… it's like she's talking down to me and I'm just wasting her time."

"So, aren't you glad she isn't leader now?"

Ruby's silver eyes went wide at my blunt assertion. Her face flushed as she realized she'd just went on a long rant about Weiss to me.

"W-well, but she's more experienced, and she would still be better at… leading than I am."

"True. But nobody is born a leader, they chose to be one and then learn." I smiled and put a hand on her shoulder to show support. "Ozpin didn't make a mistake Ruby. Weiss already has leadership skills, but she lacks the proper mindset to be a leader."

I chuckled. "You have the opposite problem, but it's easier to learn a skill than to unlearn a way of thinking. Do you know why I think you would be a good leader Ruby?"

She shook her head.

"Because you care about us. You would willingly give up your leadership position just because you thought someone else was more capable. You wanted what was best for us even if it would cost you. A leader who serves her subjects rather than the other way around."

I explained, smiling fondly at the memories of a leader that I knew. "That is a trait that I admire, and that is a leader I would follow."

The redness on her cheeks rose by several degrees at my compliment and she suddenly found the floor to be very interesting.

"… Thank you."

"You're welcome. Just remember, you aren't alone when you lead, your teammates are here for you just as much as you are for them. We got your back. You can count on us too. It's only been one day Ruby. Take some time and think about how you will uphold your responsibilities as leader, and we'll do our part as teammates."

I couldn't resist patting her head whenever she got like that, which seemed to just further embarrassed her.

"I-I have to go find Weiss."

I nodded and watched her run off. Now to deal with our audience.

I turned around, and just as I'd expected, Ozpin was there.

"I'm glad you had faith in my judgement, Mr. Emiya," The man smiled, still holding his mug and cane as he walked towards me. "Were you, perhaps, experienced in being a leader?"

"Nothing like that, I simply personally knew a few people who were leaders." I sighed as the image of various Heroic Spirits whose Noble Phantasms sat in my Reality Marble flashed through my mind. "You made the right call, neither Weiss nor I had as much potential to lead as Ruby."

Ozpin nodded, taking a sip from his mug. "Maybe so, but you've proven yourself to be an excellent teammate Mr. Emiya. A leader is nothing without their followers."

_"A king is nothing without his subjects, of what worth is a king who fails to protect the powerless?"_

I blinked, and the man was already walking away. I gazed out the window, allowing myself a moment to clear my thoughts. By sheer coincidence I saw Weiss talking to Professor Port on one of the verandas.

Well, I'd give the old guy the benefit of the doubt in telling Weiss what she did wrong, because he was, in fact, a teacher. Hopefully they'd find a good middle ground soon.

* * *

I got to the dining hall a bit late, but it was just lunch, so I didn't mind.

"Ooww, that hurts!"

I immediately turned to the source of the sound in recognition. Some guy was pulling one of Velvet's ears while his teammates were mockingly laughing at her. Velvet was holding an empty tray and made no attempt to resist, she looked like she was about to cry.

"… Please… stop."

Weiss and Ruby weren't here yet it seemed. But the fact that everyone else just stood there and watched made my blood boil. Barely containing my rage, I marched over and grabbed the guy's arm.

"Let her go."

I glared. The guy just smirked.

"What's your problem? You like these filthy animals?"

My eyes narrowed. So Faunus discrimination still existed to this extent even in an apparently prestigious school. Regardless, I should be allowed to defend my teammate from what was basically assault.

"That wasn't a suggestion, kid."

I reinforced my arm and tightened my grip. I could feel his Aura push against my hand in defense, but I powered through. His gauntlet started to fracture, and I could see his eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't react fast enough when the metal crumbled beneath my fingers, allowing me to tighten my grip even further and completely crushing his forearm. His grip slackened without the bones to support it and he writhed in pain. His teammates instantly surrounded him protectively, wearily watching me. I simply glared back while putting an arm over Velvet's shoulders, escorting her away.

"This isn't over, you bastard!"

I heard his voice echoed through the hall just before I closed the door behind us, but I could not be bothered to reply. I was still quite angry, so I took a deep breath and tried to not let it show on my face.

"T-Thank you," Velvet said meekly, one hand still nursing the ear that was roughly pulled.

"Does this happen a lot?" I asked.

She averted her gaze. Clenching her fists tightly, she sucked in a breath while blinking away the tears brimming at the corner of her eyes.

"It's… fine. I'm used to it."

She tried to smile and brush it off, but the attempt only made it more glaringly obvious how much it was hurting her. She hastily turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm. I could feel her immediately freeze up in surprise, but the shaking was still unmistakably there.

"Velvet," I began slowly. "If you have problems, tell me. We're partners, so please. Let me help."

Her brown eyes widened in disbelief, then a single tear rolled down her cheek. She pulled her other hand up to wipe it away, but it was too late. Her shoulders heaved with emotion and her lips trembled. I pulled her in for a hug, and the rest followed in an unbroken stream. I felt her clutch at the black suit of my uniform, sobbing uncontrollably. I pat her on the back of her head, gently brushing her long hair as her tears soaked into my shirt.

"It's alright" I whispered softly. "I'll take care of it, I'll protect you."

She seemed to cry even harder at that, so I held her in silence until the shaking stopped.

"S-Sorry you had to… s-see that." Her voice was still slightly cracked and hitched when she looked up at me. Then the blood rushed to her face when she realized what we were doing, her bunny ears flopped downwards to hide her blush.

"It's fine" I reassured her. "Just let me know whenever you need help, Velvet. Even if you just need a shoulder to cry on."

"I-u-umm… T-Thank you." Velvet shuffled her feet. "N-no one has ever… done that for me before."

We walked back to our dorm room in a comfortable silence. I'd had to skip lunch, but the tearful smile on my partner's face made it more than worth it.

* * *

That night, after I'd secured the upper bunks with a little help from Reinforcement Magecraft, Ruby had tried her best to stay up to study but eventually nodded off with the night lamp still shining a gentle hue over the curtains of her bed. I'd been thinking about how I could solve Velvet's situation when I heard the creaking of the ladder connecting the two beds on the other side of the room, Weiss was climbing up to wake Ruby for a late night heart-to-heart. Overhearing their hushed conversation, I couldn't help but smile.

They were chatting amicably, mending their relationship as partners and teammates. Finally, Weiss left for some fresh air, but not before telling Ruby she always wanted bunk beds as a kid and closing the door.

I was slightly surprised when Velvet poked her head down from the upper bunk.

She held a small flag that read "Good job", then gave me a thumbs up. (Where did she even get those things?)

I nodded with a smile, a little happy she was slowly letting herself relax around us at least. It was still almost surreal being in a team, but I decided that it also felt nice.

**A/N:**

**Welcome back ^^**

**Sorry it took me so long to get this out, I've been busy. Anyways thank you so much for reading and leaving reviews, I especially love some of them as I felt like someone understood me :P.**

**Anyways, I'll answer some of them here. Honestly, I've seen many people answer reviews in their Author's notes, but the part that kinda annoyed me was that I wouldn't know what the review said if I wasn't the reviewer. So, I'll try to at least repost or paraphrase the review, or at least the parts that are relevant before answering them below.**

**Zenith Tempest:**

"I'm both surprised and not that you made Ruby the leader of Shirou's team. I understand she is the leader in canon, but really, she shouldn't be. She never really acts like a leader at all and seems to have gotten the position because of her silver eyes. Given that this story is about Shirou, I'm surprised you want to relegate him to non-leader status."

**I understand your point, and I agree that she never acted like a leader. This would prompt one to jump to the conclusion that she was handed the role because of her silver eyes, which is admitted probably part of it. But I think there's more to it than that. I could hardly see either Blake or Yang as capable leaders, Weiss was the obvious choice until Port debunked that theory. Plus, as I've explained in this chapter, Beacon was a place to learn. What need was there to have Weiss as leader when she already knew how to be one? I also believe Ozpin saw some potential in Ruby, the fact that she hadn't done anything leader-like I'd attribute to perhaps the writing rather than the character itself, because they totally foreshadowed it, all they had to do was show her grow as a leader. I'm trying to do exactly that here, though with my writing ability I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to pull it off convincingly, but I will try.**

"The other mild complaint is Velvet. Her semblance is, like most things in RWBY very unexplained, so you have some leeway there, but I think you're pushing it a bit that she can copy Noble Phantasms and the fighting styles used by their wielders, at least not without burning through an ungodly amount of Dust."

**Another reviewer actually also complained about this, so here I'll address this issue. Firstly, she wouldn't burn Dust to use her semblance, so I assume you were referring to the reconstruction of Noble Phantasms, which is fair.**

**Secondly, she actually can't reproduce Noble Phantasms. Anesidora is a Dust-based piece of advanced technology, but that was it. Noble Phantasms are high ranked Conceptual Weapons that are crystallizations of legends, their strengths come from the weight of their history and the concepts behind their mystery. Some of them are pure concepts, like Heracles' Twelve Labors, which Shirou obviously cannot Trace. But some of them also exists as physical objects. That being the case, Velvet can copy their physical form with Anesidora, because the Camera can analyze and reproduce physical structures using hard-light Dust, like Kanshou and Bakuya. However, they aren't Noble Phantasms because they completely lack the history and mysticisms that are the source of a Noble Phantasm's power. Velvet's Kanshou and Bakuya would not attract each other, nor will they do extra damage to monsters, they will simply be very finely crafted swords. Basically, Velvet will be able to reproduce the physical form of Noble Phantasms but not any of their special abilities.**

**Third is her semblance, which was actually explained in the novel apparently. She can mimic any movement and fighting style she has seen with perfect accuracy so long as it was within her physical limits. So basically, even if she has reproduced Crescent Rose, she cannot use Ruby's speed semblance to mimic her high-speed fighting style, only individual moves. In that sense, while she can reproduce Shirou's stance and fighting style along with his weapons, she can't exactly fight like him because he is stronger and faster. It would be beyond her physical limits to copy any of his high speed maneuvers or his feats of strength like lifting Heracles' axe-sword. Finally, there's the unspoken limit there, but obviously if a move was too fast for her to see, she couldn't copy it.**

**I try to keep my stories as logical as I am able, so if you guys do find some faults, please do point them out. I appreciate your review very much ^^**

**Shashenka:**

**You basically pointed out the same thing Zenith Tempest did about Ruby being leader. But you also pointed out that Ruby's performance wasn't much compared to Shirou during initiation. I agree, and that was my fault for not thinking of a better scenario to showcase her leadership.**

**That being said, I hope my explanation above would still suffice. Ruby definitely had potential, and Ozpin was a good enough judge of character to determine that, as well as the fact that Shirou himself was too distorted to be a leader. Thank you for the feedback ^^**

**EVA-Saiyajin:**

"By the Root" is not an actual exclamation used by any characters in FSN."

**I'm aware, as I've read the original Visual Novel myself. It is still funny though, and FSN didn't cover however those characters grew up to be, as far as we know it could be an inside joke between Shirou and Rin when they grew up or something like that.**

**anonreader47:**

"So, this Shirou won't have sword spam since Fate route was more focused on 1 on 1 combat as opposed to UBW if we're going by True Endings."

**Route-wise, I agree, Fate route Shirou had never shown the sword spam. However, this is future Fate route Shirou who has grown up and traveled to follow his ideal. It's kinda hard to imagine him not at least realizing and unlocking his Marble, grow his Od pool through extensive use (remember his circuits were bad because of disuse), and as such Shirou here should be able to sword spam as long as his mana allowed. His tracing efficiency should have also gone up.**

**Petrus streamrock:**

"Just understand that since you are replacing team members and putting Emiya Shirou here, a "really" strong character that got even more strong since you said there's no Gaia influence in Remnant. Things wouldn't happen the same way in Canon story, Pyrha might won't hold the title as the "Invincible girl" anymore, and some lesser main villains might get their defeat, capture, or death earlier than the original timeline. For example, Roman Torchwick might get captured early in the dock fight in Blake runaway scene if Shirou decided to intervene and you decided to keep that scene. Or Cinder might not be defeated early before her plans for beacon to fall succeed.

And one other thing, Shirou hiding his true potential is ok and all, but try to keep it logical and necessary. So that it doesn't feel like unnecessary nerfing, and Shirou becoming a pathetic character. Besides power, the other thing that you need to keep watch on is Shirou's own character. He has a strong Ideal and is mature, literally. He's just in a teenager body in your fic. Now he is surrounded by many teenage girls that have stubborn personalities, and usually character in these situations will always get pushed around by the girls for "comedic purpose" while that's ok, you need to also know when the good time is when he will show his maturity and strong Ideal so he doesn't always get pushed around. So far, you're doing pretty good with his interactions, congrats.

So, in short just keep it logical and make sense both in the story scene (Especially fight scenes) and interactions, and this fic will be great."

**This right here is what I've been going for, you understood me and acknowledged that I've done a decent job at keeping the story at least logical so far, as far as Shirou's power levels, his need to conceal his powers and his interactions with the RWBY characters are concerned.**

**That is exactly what I wanted to do. I want this to be a story about what if Shirou was thrown into the RWBY universe (with some slight alterations admittedly) rather than Shirou being dragged along with RWBY canon, his powers and need to conceal them conveniently changing to suit the narrative without changing anything. I agree, Shirou is usually pushed around for comedic purposes despite being basically the adult of the group, and that's the joke. However, when it comes to his ideals, when there are people to be saved, he will act his age and take action accordingly. Shirou is literally defined by his distorted ideals and mindset, so I always try to stay true to it as much as possible.**

**Thank you so much for the praises and for the taking the time to review, it made me very happy :)**

**That's all from me, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. ^^**


	4. Chapter 4

I'd almost groaned when Yang showed me a video of the bullying affair from the previous day. The footage had apparently been captured by some bystander. I bit back a curse at my tunnel visioning tendencies when it came to saving people. Of course, it was the dining hall at lunch time, lots of people were there, I simply hadn't paid them any heed. My carelessness had allowed the rumor mill to kick into high gear behind my back. Velvet and I had apparently become a couple overnight in the eyes of some hormonal teenagers. Better yet, there was a camp that thought I was secretly a Faunus.

Velvet looked like she wanted to bury herself into the ground and disappear. Her face was completely covered behind her hands and long ears, her food completely forgotten.

…At least it wouldn't get cold with that much steam escaping between her fingers.

Ruby was doing her job as leader admirably by trying to calm the rabbit Faunus down, while Weiss absentmindedly filed her nails after a few choice words about bullying behavior in a highly prestigious school like Beacon.

Pyrrha had the decency of giving me a sympathetic look that completely contrasted her blond partner's shit-eating grin. I couldn't help but feel that Yang had a hand in this somehow. Meanwhile, Ren was trying his best to prevent his partner from devouring the school's entire supply of pancakes.

All in all, breakfast was a hectic affair.

* * *

Left. Right. Left again. Back on the podium. Right of the map. Left. Center.

I was certainly glad I could reinforce my eyes. Without it, I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with this professor. Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck, the man insisted he was called, gave off an impression that he didn't really belong here in a classroom with his messy half-tucked out shirt, loose tie and turned up collar. He was a leather vest and a hat away from looking like a complete archaeologist outfit.

Then there was his absurd speed. The man was almost teleporting around the classroom, giving a lecture at a pace that most rappers would find impressive, only stopping occasionally to take a sip of his coffee. Fuel for his hyperactivity, no doubt. It was hard enough trying to follow the good doctor's movements, let alone having to comprehend his lecture while doing so.

As such, it wasn't surprising that a large portion of the lecture hall was already asleep, Ruby included. Weiss, for once, did not bother to chastise our leader for her behavior. She was having trouble keeping up herself. I did not have to turn around to know that Yang was also fast asleep, as I can hear the snoring. It could also be Nora, but more likely both.

The man was passionate about his subject, I'll give him that, but he really needed to slow down. I inwardly sighed. Maybe I'll read up on the textbook and do some extra research later for a more complete understanding.

"Now!" The doctor paused for a small sip before continuing. "Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

I blinked and stopped myself from getting distracted with planning ahead and glanced around. A few people raised their hands. I smiled when I saw Velvet hesitantly raising hers, the girl seemed like the type to just bear with her problems by ignoring them. Now, she was willing to take the first step to seeking help.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!"

Well, he wasn't wrong. His statement would have had more impact if he'd paused properly like a normal person though. I looked down at my textbook again. We were learning about the Faunus Rights Revolution. Like all wars, the premise was always foolish, and there were too many casualties on both sides. In the end, looking at the state of Faunus treatment today, it could barely be called a victory.

"The battle at Fort Castle"

Weiss voice rang out, breaking me out of my thought. I mentally kicked myself for getting distracted again.

"Precisely! And, who could tell me the advantage the Faunus had over general Lagune's forces?"

Before I knew it, the doctor was standing in front of me.

"Mr. Emiya, care to share your thoughts?"

Was this what they call a teacher's intuition? They would always call on you when you weren't ready. Luckily for me, I'd glanced through this section while researching on my first day, only committing this battle to memory because of how ridiculous the military mistake was.

"General Lagune's inexperience and overconfidence in his numbers led him to be too assured of his victory." I analyzed. "Which was why he neglected to use every scrap of information to his advantage. He had not scouted out the enemy formation and fortifications, leading to a catastrophic siege. What ultimately lost him the battle, however, was his decision to attack the Faunus at night in total disregard of the fact that many Faunus were known to possess perfect night vision. In the end, the general was captured and his army was decimated."

"Excellent! I couldn't have said it better myself!" Oobleck nodded in approval, then in a blink he was back at the podium. "However, please refrain from being too distracted in my class next time, Mr. Emiya."

"Pfffthahaha." I immediately turned to see the bully kid, obviously laughing at me out of spite. He was leaning back on his seat, his legs on his desk.

"Mr. Winchester, can you tell me what happened afterwards?" Oobleck adjusted his glasses, making it glint in the light.

"Hah! Why should I care about the animals? They just got lucky if you asked me."

I could only blink in astonishment at the utter stupidity of that statement.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals are you Cardin?" I heard Pyrrha interject.

"What? You got a problem?"

"No." I answered for her. "But perhaps if you had paid attention, you would have known that ignorance was the reason the battle was lost. Knowing your enemy is half the battle. I'd wager that general Lagune hadn't been particularly attentive in class either."

A bunch of people snorted into their hands. Yang, who woke up at some point, barked out a laugh.

The guy flushed and he was half-way getting up from his seat with a clenched fist when Oobleck helpfully intervened.

"Mr. Winchester! Please sit down. I'll have to ask you to stay after class to talk about your behavior and additional readings."

It was then that a particular idea popped into my mind.

* * *

"Doctor Oobleck." I called out to the man after he'd sent Winchester off with an extra essay.

"Mr. Emiya? Do you have questions about today's lecture perhaps?" Oobleck was visibly surprised. It seemed not many students, if any, had ever stayed after class to talk to him.

"Ah yes, something like that." I scratched the back of my head. "I wanted to learn more about the Faunus Wars, and I find it easier to learn by observation. Could you recommend any place where historical findings and artifacts from that period are on display? A local museum perhaps?"

His eyes widened behind those excessively bright spectacles and his lips curved into a smile.

"Excellent! It's always a pleasure to see students with appreciation for history!" The man darted around his office in several blurs, then reappeared in front of me, a slip of paper in his hand. "Here, come to this museum. It has a great section on the history of the Faunus Rights Revolution, including preserved remains of the battle of Fort Castle we've discussed today. Why, I'd personally recovered some of the priceless pieces of history currently on display myself!"

I gave him my thanks after he shook my hand enthusiastically, a bit dizzy from following his movements but I got what I came for.

* * *

"Hey Velvet."

I asked my partner after classes while Ruby was still focused on her essay and Weiss had gone to the library to look something up.

"Can you show me how to work with hard-light Dust?"

She tilted her head, one ear bending down half-way in confusion.

"Why? You already have your Semblance."

"Well yes, but sometimes we'll have to work together, and I want to make use of your weapons too like that time we had to cover Ruby." I responded. "Plus, it looks really useful, and I can probably tamper with the training room equipment settings."

It was no secret Beacon's training room used advanced holographic dust technology to simulate the various scenarios that huntsmen might one day find themselves in. This had proven highly effective in combat class, where students were forced to fight in a variety of terrain and degrees of visibility, and it could also simulate Grimm attacks. Rumor had it that one of the harder tests were to pit current students against a simulation of a graduate huntsman team. Frankly, I was amazed when I'd given it a try myself. Though it'd be nice if I could make the exercises a little bit harder so I wouldn't get rusty.

"Umm, sure…" Velvet produced a bit of Dust from her bag, as well as her camera.

I was given a very detailed tutorial on how to utilize the apparently rare Dust. Velvet had eased in her role as a teacher quite comfortably, and even got uncharacteristically enthusiastic when we got deeper into the mechanics of blueprints and reconstruction. I'd found out that the mechanisms of the camera did most of the reconstruction work, all I had to do was produce the right blueprint. To that end, I'd managed to test trace a few pictures that Velvet had taken, noting how much more complex their integral structure was compared to ordinary photographs, and inserted them into Anesidora. The look on Velvet's face when they'd worked was priceless. No longer did she need to take an excessive number of photos of weapons just to make sure she wouldn't run out of steam. I could provide her with some if needed. We would've continued but it was getting late. Ruby and Weiss wouldn't be able to sleep with all the holographic light from our experiments.

* * *

School was out on the weekends, so we took the opportunity to visit the city of Vale. It was certainly a busy place, bustling with life and activity. It amazed me how similar technology here was compared to back home. They worked on completely different principles and sources of energy and yet their designs had converged in evolution.

"First time in a big city, Shirou?" Ruby asked, probably wondering why I was looking around so much. Velvet was showing us around because she grew up here. Weiss and Ruby wasn't particularly interested in sight seeing, perhaps it was normal to them.

"Well, yeah, you could say that." This was my first time in a big city in this world at least.

"Speaking of which, where are you from Shirou?" Weiss inquired.

"One of the settlements outside the Kingdoms. We were a rather isolated lot, so I doubt any of you have heard of the place." I answered without missing a beat, silently thanking Ozpin for making up such a convenient cover story for me in his misunderstanding.

"What is it called?"

"Fuyuki."

"Hmm, that sounds Mistralian." Weiss pondered. "How come you came to Beacon then? Wouldn't Haven Academy be closer?"

"You came from Atlas yourself, no?" I asked back, hoping to dodge the question.

Weiss seemed to take a moment formulate a response, then answered with a complicated expression on her face.

"I just didn't want to rely on my father and learn how to be independent here in Vale. How about you?"

"I… well…"

I thought about what to say for a moment but concluded that I couldn't really deviate from what I'd told Ozpin for consistency's sake.

"I don't have a home to return to anymore." I sighed. "I'd lost my way and wandered to the outskirts of Vale where Ozpin found me and offered me a place in Beacon."

I heard a few gasps as the faulty understanding dawned on them.

"…So that's why you didn't bring anything." Ruby muttered.

"Yeah, I only got here with whatever was on me."

"Shirou… if you need anything…"

I raised a hand to stop her. "Look, I'm over it. Today's our day out so brighten up. If you want to help me, we could go shopping for the stuff that I need. Can I trust you girls to help me pick those out? As I said, first time in a big city."

They seem to brighten up a bit at that. We spent the better half of the day stocking up on supplies, including Dust and Weapon parts. Ruby and I hit it off at the weapon's shop as we admired the various complex and ingenious mechanisms. Velvet was interested herself, if only for the photos. In the end Weiss had to drag all of us out.

"You guys can head back first, I've gotta head to a Museum that Dr. Oobleck told me about."

"You're on good terms with him?" Ruby asked incredulously. "How did you even keep up with that professor?"

"Well, I'm just a bit interested in history. I'll catch the last Bullhead back, don't worry." I said while walking off.

* * *

I almost didn't make it. After leaving the museum it had taken me a while to find a place to set up a proper workshop. The city was quite compact without any places out of sight. I finally had to settle for one of the rundown warehouses at the shipping docks. It wasn't abandoned, as I could see traces of people that seemed quite recent, but it would have to do. I'd make sure to add a bounded field that caused disinterest and a basic detection spell that would warn me if anyone broke through. A basic Formalcraft circle that would siphon mana slowly out of the air was all I had time for afterwards.

Then again, I didn't even know where to begin in finding a way home yet. Dimensional travel was True Magic territory, and all my experiences with the Kaleidoscope were his pranks. Being friends with the man's apprentice was tough work to say the least.

I didn't have time to look through the research of the Dead Apostle I took out before coming here so I wouldn't know what mystery I'd managed to trigger. My best hope was waiting for Rin to get to me somehow if she noticed me going missing.

To be honest, it was strange. Assuming that Rin noticed my disappearance sometime after my last mission, be it a few days or a few years. She would eventually learn the Kaleidoscope to a decent enough degree to eventually reach me, right?

And since the Kaleidoscope can open a portal to any dimension at any point in time. Theoretically, the moment I popped into this world, I could be greeted by a 40-year-old Rin stepping out of a portal to take me back.

The fact that that wasn't the case could only mean…

The Rin of my world never managed to master the Kaleidoscope to that degree. Which was unlikely, since Rin was a genius, a prodigy. Zelretch would never teach someone who was incapable of learning it, the man was practically omniscient.

Or, for one reason or another they decided to take me back at a later date.

Or, this whole thing was a Zelretch prank.

It was scary how likely the last scenario was.

Regardless, I'd spend tomorrow working on my project.

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch hated Mondays, it meant she had more paperwork on her desk, a week to work through.

And of course, combat class to supervise.

She honestly didn't like the job, but she understood that her telekinesis semblance was perfect for it. Every year she would witness kids make the same mistakes as their predecessors and point them out while make sure no one gets hurt by calling the match before they do.

The simulator was a bit slow to start up, but she thought nothing of it. This year's batch was quite impressive. Both Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee from Team RSSE performed exceptionally well against their respective opponents, although she'd had to point out how the former was underutilizing her Semblance while the latter was over-reliant on it. Other than that, though, their techniques were solid, they'd planned out and controlled the flow of the fight very well and did an exemplary job for huntsmen their age. In contrast to this, Team YRNN's Yang Xiao Long and Nora Valkyrie fought explosively, literally. For what they lacked in tactics, they made up in pure brute force, and while Yang could achieve higher levels of physical prowess, Nora became completely unpredictable near the end of her fight, showing very creative uses of her hammer's boosts to edge out the win. She would call Pyrrha Nikos to the field, but she'd thought saving the showing of the Mistral champion for a later date would be better. Emiya Shirou had shown that he knew how to keep his talents a secret, but she wasn't willing to risk pushing him in combat against a potentially difficult opponent.

She glanced at the clock.

"There is time left for one match, does anyone wish to volunteer?"

The moment Glynda saw Cardin Winchester's sole hand rose up among the crowd, she knew she'd make a mistake. The brief conflict between Cardin and Emiya, as well as the controversy that followed, had not escaped her notice. She could not punish Emiya, however, because he had acted in defense of another student and only subdued Winchester without hurting him any more than what he deemed necessary. Glynda was no stranger to students settling conflicts in the ring. Teenagers were a troublesome lot. However, she'd eventually learned that, generally, it was better to let her students vent here where she could supervise them rather than elsewhere.

"Very well Mr. Winchester, and who would be your opponent?"

Cardin immediately pointed, to no one's surprise, at Emiya Shirou. Emiya himself was leaned back against his seat, closing his eyes with a resigned expression before standing up.

"Mrs. Goodwitch, I have a request."

"What is it Mr. Emiya? Are you opposed to this matchup?"

"No. Rather, I'd like to face the entirety of team CRDL, would that be fine?"

The boy had said that in a completely neutral expression, his voice devoid of any sarcasm or mirth. He was making a serious request. Cardin smirked.

"You wanted to die that badly?"

Glynda sighed. Considering Emiya's display during his initiation, his request was actually sensible, it would be harder for her to justify denying him.

"Very well."

They wasted no time in getting into their combat gear. Well, team CRDL did anyway, Emiya could conjure weapons on the fly so he simply jumped down.

"Are all combatants ready?"

Shirou gave a nod, Cardin and his team followed suit. The simulator changed the battlefield to a vast open space.

"Begin!"

Team CRDL's coordination could use a bit of work, Glynda noted. Cardin attacked out of turn a few times and it was clear Sky Lark was the weakest link of the team. That being said, for huntsmen their age it was already quite impressive. Nevertheless, this was a mismatch.

Emiya was effortlessly dancing around them. Cardin was taking too long to wait for his teammates to create an opening. Russel and Dove couldn't break his guard or land any solid hits, and Sky was slow to follow up.

Ultimately though, if they had corrected all those mistakes, it wouldn't have mattered. It was clear Emiya was just testing the waters, he wasn't even fighting seriously. He was simply too fast for them. Their combination attacks were all seen through and perfectly blocked, dodged or countered. Despite it being four on one, Emiya was in perfect control of the fight.

After a few minutes of trading blows without either side landing any solid hits, team CRDL was left panting for breath while Emiya looked completely unfazed.

"I was honestly expecting more than this." There wasn't any mockery in his tone, he was simply genuinely disappointed. Glynda widened her eyes when his twin swords vanished.

"You bastard, are you looking down on us? You think you can beat us with your bare hands?"

"Oh, you are mistaken. Did you not challenge me to settle our conflict, Winchester? In that case, I wasn't here to fight you to begin with. I'm here to teach you a lesson."

For the first time during the fight, Emiya's face twisted into a sinister smirk. A blood red spear appeared in his hand. It had a narrow head and some strange carvings along its entire body. In that moment, everyone else in the room was frozen in terror. The weapon was exuding an absolutely suffocating air that was dripping with what could only be called bloodlust. Glynda trembled slightly, she had a feeling that the lance wanted to kill everyone in this room and would not stop until it did so.

"I'm not a fan of lectures." Emiya said, spinning the spear in his hand in a laid-back manner. "You aren't either, are you Winchester? Don't worry, today I'll teach you a history lesson the fun way."

The scene changed. No, the simulator was changing it. Glynda's eyes widened in shock at the out-of-control device. She tried correcting it, but to no avail, some sort of foreign energy was blocking her access.

The wind blew over the tall grass plains. There upon a hill, sat a majestic castle. Its reinforced walls were tall and towers taller. Its back faced a cliff face, all sides overlooked the open field below. It looked virtually impregnable. The sun was long gone, and a new moon hung in the sky.

"Welcome, Winchester" Emiya's voice rang out. "To the battle of Fort Castle."

Without bothering to look at the gawking expressions on team CRDL's faces, Emiya swung his hand up and the light bulbs in the room shattered.

"You are a human soldier here to siege the Faunus' fort in the dead of night."

Emiya's voice came from a different direction all of a sudden. He was fast, almost too fast. Everyone involuntarily shivered when they saw a pair of blood red eyes shining in the direction that he would be.

"And we are the animals. If you think yourself above us, then come!"

Vast armies appeared out of thin air around the plains, they marched in formation towards the fortress. There were standard bearers, battering rams and timber war machines ready to siege the castle.

Cardin and his teammates felt momentarily safe as they hid behind the army's forces. But that was before the explosions started.

The castle's garrison fired upon the approaching army. Normally, a direct siege was considered a last resort and a tremendous waste of troops. The deafening sounds of bombs and gunfire rocked the battlefield. There were piercing screams of the dying, the injured. There was no honor, no mercy, none of the heroics or the bravery told in stories actually existed here. Here, human lives were expendable, and death was indiscriminate.

War-grade weapons were different, they were designed with maximum penetrative power and further enhanced by aura. They weren't made to subdue those who protect themselves with Aura. They were meant to kill.

Such was the fate of one of the soldiers near Cardin, a single shot through the gap in his helm was all it took. The man fell down lifelessly, blood pooling below him. Nobody paid it any heed and the army trampled over the fallen to reach their enemy, only for more to fall the same way.

Team CRDL huddled together in terror. Their minds had gone into shock at the realities of war. All they could see in the dark were flashes of light whenever the fort fired, the ground beneath their feet shook at every impact. Every burst of flames was followed by dying screams of those that history would eventually forget.

All the while, the pair of red eyes blazed across the battlefield, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. They could hear it, the clashing of steel, then the sound of splintered wood and creaking metal as entire war machines were toppled into the hapless surrounding soldiers. The sounds were getting closer.

Then Cardin could see them, the glowing eyes of the Faunus forces that had maneuvered behind in the cover of darkness. They opened fire upon the disoriented humans, then quickly fled. The tall grass covered their retreat as they nimbly navigated the field unseen. The human army's vast numbers were pointless against an enemy they could not see, and their escape had been cut off.

When the pale, bleak sun finally rose, it felt like a millennia had passed. The roars of gunfire had died away, the shouting of the slaughter was hushed. Only silence laid upon the bloodstained grass as the bitter wind swept the hillside and ruffled them lightly.

"Look around Winchester."

Emiya stood in front of them.

"Do you see it? This is war, Winchester, the result of foolish ideas of discrimination such as yours."

The battlefield was now a graveyard for the unburied. General Lagune's once mighty army was now little more than scorched corpses and pierced armor, broken and discarded weapons. The rest was food for the Nevermores.

"This was a war nobody but people like you wanted."

The scenery faded into a gloomy city that was Vale. The streets that were normally packed stood empty. Families waited anxiously in vain for the return of their loved ones. Finally, a huntsman knocked on their door, only to hand them an emblem, a piece of weapon or gear and their sympathies. The despair in the air was palpable, there were sobbing, there were heartbroken wailing, hysterical screaming. War didn't just come to those who were forced to fight it, they came to the mothers, the fathers and the children alike. There wasn't a family intact, not one.

The remains of the battlefield suddenly paled in comparison to the devastation in their souls.

"This was a war everyone else lamented."

Emiya solemnly stated.

"The period of unprecedented peace you're experiencing now was paid for in blood, in tears and in losses that could drive people mad. Only because dim-witted morons like you thought people born with animal features were beneath them."

The red lance came up, blazing with a pulsing red aura that demanded retribution.

"So tell me, Winchester, what right have you to spit on their sacrifices?"

For a moment, Emiya's expression turned feral as he delivered a kick that sent Cardin and his teammates out of the ring and crashing into the surrounding walls.

"Do you remember what Oobleck asked you in class Winchester?"

"_Mr. Winchester, can you tell me what happened afterwards?"_

"I'll show you what happened."

The sheer loss of life permeated the air with anguish and misery, an aura that enveloped entire cities. On the outskirts of such settlements, the Grimm smelled the negativity and started to attack in droves. Elder Grimm the size of entire buildings led the charge against the various weakened kingdoms. It was a miracle all of them held out.

"Those who do not learn from history… are doomed to repeat it. For our sake and yours, Winchester, I pray that you learned from my history class."

Emiya simply turned and walked away, the simulator shutting off as he dismissed his spear.

"I believe that's my victory Mrs. Goodwitch."

His statement cut through the silence with absolute finality.

"Indeed." Ozpin, who had arrived at some point, startled Glynda by answering from behind her. "Meet me in my office later Mr. Emiya." The amused smirk left his face, being traded for a more serious expression. "We have much to discuss."

"That's the end of combat class students." He turned around to address the audience, the shock finally wearing off from them. "Move along now."

Then he walked away, motioning for Glynda to follow.

* * *

"Shirou," Ruby began with complete seriousness. "Are you… actually a faunus?"

Shirou blinked, then blinked again, before trying and failing to hold back a snort.

"Of course not, Ruby." He couldn't resist ruffling Ruby's hair when she sulked at his exaggerated reaction. "What made you think that?"

"W-well… when you used that… spear. You looked… d-different." Velvet helpfully supplied, understandably nervous about the cursed weapon.

"Shirou" Weiss interjected. "I don't know how you did that, and we can talk about that later. But right now, a lot of students think you're a dog Faunus. It's like you validated their theory for them."

It took all of Shirou's self-control to not let the amusement show on his face. A mere glance at Gae Bolg was giving people dog vibes? it was hilarious to him.

"Ah well, it doesn't matter." He answered, finally. "Let them think what they want."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?!" Weiss looked ready to scream at his apparent lack of forethought and dismissal of potential consequences.

Shirou, however, simply smiled contentedly, like a man who had just achieved his purpose in life.

"So long as those guys don't bother Velvet anymore, I'm fine with that."

The rabbit faunus blushed bright red, then turned a few shades redder when the implications finally sunk in. Shirou had completely disregarded his reputation just to keep her safe.

Shirou himself hadn't seen this, however, as he was already walking off in the direction of Beacon Tower.

"We can talk about this later if you'd like." He lazily waved back at them. "Gotta go have a little chat with the headmaster now."

Shirou eyed the pulsing light at the top of the tower, wondering what he'd have to tell Ozpin in the coming confrontation. As he stood in the dreadfully slow elevator though, he found he couldn't regret his actions.

_"But do not misunderstand. The superhero you are being is no more than a cleaner. Know that the only people you can save like that are the ones that survive."_

_"…You should have realized it already too._

_Look, your methods will not allow you to reverse a sad event or a miserable death._

_Those are the limits._

_A superhero is only someone that tidies up events that have already taken place. You will definitely not be able to save the people you want to save the most."_

Long ago, another man who tried and failed to follow his ideals had told him that, warned him of the perils that would come should he keep walking on this path.

"Then I'll simply stop them before they happen." He smiled. "I will make it so they wouldn't need saving in the first place."

* * *

A/N:

**I'm back ^^.**

**Not too late hopefully? I'm only going to be busier from now on though, so progress might be slow. Sorry D:**

**Anyways, I'll respond to some of the reviews.**

**Servantofcardin:**

"our lord is not amused."

**Is he amused now? :D**

**Petrus streamrock:**

"I just have 1 critic for this chapter. It's that the pacing is a little too fast, especially near the middle and the end of the chapter. How to fix this? Try to describe the scenes more detailed to make it longer before changing to another scene."

**Yeah, I can see that. I'll try to be a bit more descriptive in the future. Admittedly, I'm quite bad at it, but I'll try to improve.**

"And one other thing. Following your Reviewers wishes is ok to satisfy them. But try not to follow all of them."

**Haha, don't worry about that one. I can barely manage my own story direction, not gonna start taking people's requests any time soon, if ever. But yeah, I know what you're talking about. I've been just a reader myself for years before working up enough courage to upload this. I've seen those.**

**Thanks for always reviewing dude. ^^**

**shirou6655:**

"I liked the chapter, as well as the fact that Shirou is not as reserved in his magic as he is in other fanfics, I wanted to know if you would let Shirou later invoke the Unlimited Blade Work, and what would be the Aria that you would use"

**Yeah, one of the things I always asked myself when reading fics was:**

**"Why didn't Shirou just project a simple tool or something?"**

**Which is why I try to let him do that here, ordinary tools shouldn't take much Od to project and it should be like an afterthought to him. As for the Reality Marble, well, eventually I guess, he hasn't even been trying with his opponents so far and he had no reason to. I haven't decided on the Aria yet, if I can't come up with anything I'll just use UBW Shirou's, maybe with a few tweaks.**

**simple405:**

"I have been enjoying the story so far. On that quick point on Shirou's circuit disuse, I actually read another author who good naturedly vented a bit on that misconception which stemmed from Gabriel Blessing ("Fateful Distractions" ch. 10 by Angry Santo). The explanation was that the circuits are spiritually anchored so they would not atrophy like a muscle. It was simply the case that Shirou did not unlock them so he was using limited resources. He actually has decent and potentially above average circuits among magi considering him as only being a first generation magus and not being the once in a century golden goose that is Tohsaka Rin who also inherits more in her crest. My extension on this is that after he unlocks them he still needs time to acclimate to using them rather than the circuits themselves developing problems."

**I'm pretty sure it is correct that Shirou has 27 magic circuits, while the average magus has 20. However, the source material (Visual novel) states that because of his wrong training, his switch has been closed this whole time. When his circuits were finally opened, they could only handle 10 units of mana each. That meant they could potentially channel more once he got used to it. You're right that they don't atrophy, the explanation was that his nervous system couldn't get used to the new intake of energy. Basically, he was too used to channeling his make-shift nerve circuits that he couldn't control his actual circuits which were of much higher quality. I was certainly wrong to claim that the circuits themselves went bad because of disuse, but it was certainly true that he wasn't utilizing them to their full potential. Thanks for pointing this out ^^.**

**vinayakdj1:**

"Doesn't want to reveal his hand this early in the game.  
Breaks space-time to kill a giant bird"

**Shirou: Noooobody saw that.**

**Hahahaha good one dude, tho yeah it was the easiest method to explain away as him moving really fast.**

**btw, I can't read Spanish, so I won't be able to respond to any Spanish reviews out there. Sorry.**

**That's all from me. Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter ^^.**


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